The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) works for the conservation of a wide array of endangered migratory animals worldwide through the negotiation and implementation of agreements and species action plans. With currently 110 member countries, many of them in Africa, CMS is a fast-growing convention with special importance due to its expertise in the field of migratory species.
The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is a strategic alliance of UN agencies, governments, NGOs, foundations and corporate sponsors. CMS is one of the members of the international GRASP partnership to stop the decline of great ape populations. Mobilizing and pooling resources by providing a communication platform for scientists will improve coordination among NGOs. National plans have helped great ape range countries develop tailored conservation strategies.
The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the umbrella organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its members include selected zoos and aquariums, and regional and national Associations of Zoos and Aquariums, as well as some affiliate organisations, such as zoo veterinarians or zoo educators, from all around the world.
The world-renowned great ape conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall (DBE) will lend her voice to this campaign as the official campaign patron. The Jane Goodall Institute's network of outstanding educational and conservation activities is bound to add significantly to the campaign's impact.
Great Apes, and especially the largest of all, gorillas, have always been a source of inspiration and fascination for humans. Their close kinship to humans makes them stand out in the animal kingdom. Genetic analyses show that gorillas share 98,4 percent of their genes with humans. Gorillas have been shown to possess self-awareness, remarkable intelligence and an ability to communicate with signs and symbols as well as use some basic tools. They express emotions such as joy and distress in a way similar to humans.
Some gorilla populations are the object of concerted conservation and restoration efforts. However, gorillas as a whole remain endangered and continue to face severe threats. All the great ape species of Africa - the bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas- and the orangutans of Southeast Asia are in steep decline, and the rate of loss is increasing virtually everywhere. The conservation of viable wild populations of each species, necessary to prevent their extinction, represents a difficult challenge to humanity. Not only are these species humankind’s closest relatives, they also play a key role in their forest homes, which in turn regulate the global climate. A failure to save them from extinction would truly be an irreversible loss and a bad omen for humanity’s future prospects. Current conservation efforts need to be widened, as trends suggest that all great ape species could become extinct in the wild in the 21st century, and some even within a few decades. New approaches are needed to reverse this trajectory.
Our understanding of gorillas has significantly increased over the last four decades. Scientists have entered their world and discovered both their social complexity and their key role in the ecology of their habitats.
There are 4 widely recognized gorilla subspecies, belonging to 2 species. Primatologists continue to explore the relationships between various gorilla populations. The species and subspecies listed here are the ones upon which most experts agree.
Genus Gorilla
Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)
Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla; more than 125,000, possibly ~ 200,000 individuals)
Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli; 250-300 individuals)
Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei)
Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei; ~ 720 individuals)
Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri; may be as low as 5,000 individuals, down from 17,000 in 1995; extremely difficult to survey due to political instability)
Today, there remain only 10 countries with naturally occurring populations of gorillas. The map below shows the areas of distribution of the gorilla subspecies.
Gorillas are forest dwelling species, most of whose numbers live outside protected areas. They inhabit tropical rain forests, forest edges and clearings, riverine forests, swamps, and abandoned fields. Western Gorillas and Eastern Lowland Gorillas live in tropical forests where herb densities are lower and fruit is more abundant compared to the high-altitude montane forest, which is the characteristic habitat of the Mountain Gorillas. Correspondingly, Lowland Gorillas have a lot of fruit in their diet while Mountain Gorillas eat mostly herbs, leaves, stems and roots. Gorillas spend more than half the day eating. Many, but not all, Western Gorilla habitats include isolated, open clearings covered with year-round herbaceous vegetation (so-called Bais), or large swamps bordering rivers. Although their range covers only a small percentage of Africa, gorillas occur throughout a wide range of elevations from dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes at sea level (Lowland Gorillas) to 3,800 m above sea level (Mountain Gorillas).
The gorilla is robust and powerful, with an extremely thick, strong chest and a protruding abdomen. The face has large nostrils, small ears, and prominent brow ridges. Adults have long, muscular arms that are 15–20 percent longer than the stocky legs. Gorillas move around by knuckle-walking. Males are about twice as heavy as females and may attain a height of about 1,7 metres (5,5 feet) and a weight (in the wild) of 135–220 kg (300–485 pounds). A wild adult female typically is about 1,5 metres tall and weighs about 70–90 kg. Gorillas lack hair on the face, palms, and soles of their feet, and the chest of adult males is bare. The hair of the mountain gorilla is longer than that of the other subspecies. Adult males have a prominent crest on top of the skull and a “saddle” of grey or silver hairs on the lower part of the back—hence the term silverback, which is commonly used to refer to mature males. The saddle is much more conspicuous in eastern gorillas, which are jet black, than in western gorillas, which are more of a deep grey-brown, often with a red crown. Western Gorillas are more slender and agile than the more bulky Eastern Lowland and Mountain Gorilla. Their lifespan is between 30 to 50 years.
Group size ranges from 5 to 30 (exceptionally up to 60) individuals, with a silverback leading the group, mediating conflicts, determining the movements of the group, leading the others to feeding sites and taking responsibility for the safety and well-being of the troop. Occasionally brothers lead a group. The support of females is crucial for a male to remain troop-leader over the long term. Younger males called blackbacks may serve as backup protection. If the leader is killed by disease, accident, fighting or poachers, the group will split up, as the animals disperse to look for a new protective male. The gorilla is active during the day (diurnal) and primarily terrestrial, but climbs trees well to reach fruit and build sleeping nests (silverbacks nest on the ground).
Males will slowly begin to leave their original troop when they are about 11 years old, travelling alone or with a group of other males for 2–5 years before forming a new group with females and starting to breed. While infant gorillas normally stay with their mother for 3–4 years, if she dies the silverback will care for weaned young orphans.
Gorillas are closely related to humans and are considered highly intelligent. A few individuals in captivity have been taught sign language, and use hundreds of signs. Gorillas seldom use tools in the wild, but have been seen using sticks to probe and balance in deep water, and an infant caught in the wild used rocks to smash open nuts. It is a common tale among native peoples that gorillas have used rocks and sticks to thwart predators, but this has yet to be confirmed.
The best available estimates indicate that the world gorilla population is around 200,000 individuals. In August 2008, data was published indicating that 125,000 previously uncounted gorillas live in remote areas of northern Congo. With the exception of the Mountain Gorilla however, accurate population estimates for gorillas are hard to establish, because they are difficult to survey precisely in their vast range and many populations are inaccessible due to local conflicts and warfare. Population counts and estimates of gorillas are commonly carried out on the basis of nest or sleeping site counts. According to the IUCN Red List (2008), all taxa are considered ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’.
Numerous threats endanger gorillas’ survival. Together with the other great apes, they are most severely threatened by: habitat loss and fragmentation; hunting and the bushmeat trade; diseases and epidemics; mining; and the effects of armed conflicts.
Hunting: The killing of gorillas for the bushmeat trade has a devastating impact on gorilla populations, especially where they live close to humans. The demand for bushmeat is growing, and hunters can often earn a higher income from selling bushmeat than from other legal economic activities. Studies have estimated that between one and five million tonnes of wild animal meat are extracted per year from the Congo Basin alone. The sale of live specimens and the use of body-parts in traditional medicine and magic are additional threats to gorillas. To capture one live infant, at least two adults are killed, and four out of five infants die before reaching skilled care. Thus to procure one live infant, 14 gorillas are likely to have died. The future prospects for gorillas are particularly grim, as they reproduce slowly and are already facing many other challenges.
Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and degradation: Increasing deforestation as a result of excessive and illegal logging or burning of forests, the expansion of agriculture, the commercial charcoal trade, development of infrastructure such as forest roads and mining (e.g. for Coltan, an ore used in the production of cell-phones and other high-tech equipment) all contribute to habitat loss and fragmentation.
Diseases/Epidemics: Viral epidemics such as Ebola or human-transmitted diseases also play an important role. A 2006 study concluded that more than 5,000 gorillas may have died in outbreaks of the Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever in this study’s area alone. The total death toll is probably much higher. The researchers indicated that, in conjunction with the other threats, this creates "a recipe for rapid extinction", especially as Ebola can spread through gorilla populations which are so remote as to be safe from human threats.
Armed conflicts & civil war: Many of the gorilla range states have unstable political climates, with war and local conflicts making it hard to ensure effective implementation of conservation measures. The last few years have seen a rise in the killing of rare wildlife and environmental destruction in the region, as old conflicts are rekindled and new ones erupt. As chronic instability continues to plague the region, more than 500,000 Internally Displaced People and refugees have spread across the region, burning forest for agriculture or charcoal and hunting to sustain themselves. Rebel groups have occupied large swaths of the national parks and important forest ecosystems. Civil wars and political instability in more than half of the gorilla range states have not only caused untold human suffering, but have also reduced the effectiveness of international legal protection of these species. Following a decade of civil war, new estimates suggest that the number of Eastern Lowland Gorillas may have plummeted by 70 percent.
CMS concluded a new and legally binding agreement for gorilla conservation with the range states Angola, Cameroon, Republic of Central Africa, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda and the other members of the GRASP partnership. The Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences and GRASP UNEP/UNESCO provided scientific support. This agreement entered into force in June 2008.
The Action Plan, including the national and regional plans developed within the GRASP framework, concentrates, among other things, on the development of real networks of protected areas, on the development of standard data collection, analyses and diffusion. It takes into account that gorillas share their habitat with millions of people in West, Central and East Africa. The majority of these people live below the poverty line; poverty and lack of knowledge drives people to use wildlife and other natural resources unsustainably. The Year of the Gorilla 2009, through GRASP, supports community-based projects that not only stabilize great ape populations, but also protect forests and the eco-system services they provide. Limited, sustainable ecotourism has a role to play in this respect.
The Gorilla Agreement, as well as the projects which will result from it, will contribute to promoting the long term survival of gorillas, their forest habitat and dependent human populations. This should in turn make a tangible contribution towards achieving the 2010 targets for biodiversity, attaining a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiverity loss, and allow the States concerned to combine conservation and sustainable economic development.
WAZA supported the development of the Gorilla Agreement and holds a Memorandum of Cooperation with CMS. The management of the gorilla zoo population is based on the international studbook, which WAZA coordinates. Members of WAZA focus on education and in situ conservation programmes, e,g. in Nigeria, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
GRASP initiatives include anti-poaching campaigns, reforestation, development of eco-tourism and carbon finance, implementation of development projects in the regions bordering the areas protected for gorilla conservation and programmes of restoration.
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